DELIGHTED Rebecca Ling could barely contain her joy when she met Lee Mead.

Rebecca, 15, went to see the Southend star in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in London's West End.

Rebecca, who is paralysed from the waist down after a spine operation went wrong, knows Lee through his work with the Mushroom Theatre Company, in Hullbridge.

After the performance, Lee invited Rebecca backstage. He gave her a peck on the cheek and signed an autograph for her, which now takes pride of place in her room at home, in Runwell Road, Wickford.

Mum Julie said: "He was so sweet. Some people look at me and talk to me when Rebecca is there because they don't know how to act. But Lee was asking her questions and patiently listening to the answers, it was great.

"The trip was a special treat for her, but to go backstage was just fantastic."

Generous Echo readers raised more than £6,000 for Rebecca last year to get her home from Southend Hospital in time for Christmas.